Magazine for repeating firearms.



No. 723,864. PATENTED MAR. 81, 1903. H. HARRIS. MAGAZINE FOR REPEATING FIREARMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16, 1901.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

NO MODEL.

RWN

No. 723,864., A BATENTBDMAR. s1,.19os'.

Y HLHARRIS. I MAGAZINE FOR REPBATING' FIREARMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR 15, 1901- PATBNTED MAR. 31, 1903.

H. HARRIS. MAGAZINE FOR REPEATING FIREARMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15, 1901.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

I0 MODEL.

n4: Norms FEYERS c0. mom-urns wAsmnarou. u. c.

UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

HENRY HARRIS, OF OONGLE'lON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE HARRIS RIFLE MAGAZINE, LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, A CORPORATION.

MAGAZINE FOR REPEATING FIREARMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 723,864, dated March 31, 1 903.

Application filed March 15, 1901. Serial No. 51,397. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY HARRIS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at No. 11 Test street, Oongleton, in the county 5 of Chester, England, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Magazines for Repeating Firearms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in no the magazines of repeating firearms, especially applicable to repeating rifles having a magazine of the open-topped or box type.

One arrangement of the cartridges in the magazine is indicated in Figures 4, 5, 6 by dot- I 5 ted lines. It is, however, obvious that the loosely-inserted cartridges do not always arrange themselves alike. These magazines have been constructed hitherto in various forms, both as a deep narrow approximatelyrectangular box and as a more or less cylindrical receptacle; but in all forms hitherto known the magazine-Walls have been of uniform shape throughout-that is to say, the magazine has either been truly rectangular or cylindrical or it has been uniformly tapering from the rear to the front. Now I have discovered that in a magazine so constructed the cartridges when dropped loosely into the same without the use of a clip are sometimes liable to jamb and interfere with the free rising of the platform and the firing of the rifle. To avoid this serious drawback, I have designed the improvement which forms the object of the present application for Let- 5 ters Patent.

Referring to the accompanyingdrawings, Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal sectional elevation of a rifle provided with my magazine. Fig. 2 shows a Vertical elevation and partial 4o section of the magazine. Fig. 3 represents the corresponding plan View. Fig. 4. shows a section of the magazine on the lines 0 D of Fig.2. Fig. 5 shows a section of the 'magazine on the line E F of Fig. 2. Fig. 6-shows 5 a section of the magazine on the line G H of Fig. 2.

Instead of the uniformly parallel or cylindrical side walls of the magazines of prior construction I curve the walls of my magazine in an irregular barrel-shaped form, hav- 5o ing interior projections and depressions so arranged that the cartridges are obliged to arrange themselves in proper order within the magazine, and there is no possibility of their piling or jammingduring the op eration of loading or while the table is being operated to bring them successively into the firing-breech.

The constructionillustrated in the drawings is that which I have found by actual 6o experiment to be the best adapted to the requirements of the Lee-Metford rifle as constructed in Great Britain and adapted to the present service cartridge for that rifle. It may be needful to slightly vary the outline of the inner walls of the magazine to insure the same result with cartridges of other dimensions or calibers; but the principle of my invention is clearly shown by the type illustrated.

The recurved projections 20 and 21 (shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 6) serve to prevent the cartridges from being forced out of the top of the magazine when the breech is opened. The top cartridge is held firmly by the action of the spring-impelled platform against these projections and cannot move until it is pushed forward and slides into the firing-chamber under the operation of the breech-block mechanism when the cartridge underneath it takes its place in the magazine. The aforesaid recurved projections are already known in connection with the upper edges of magazines of this type and form themselves no part of my invention otherwise than in combination; but

What I claim is 1. In a repeating firearm, an open-topped magazine having rigidly-fixed base and rigid side walls of irregularly-curved surface, said magazine-walls tapering from the rear to the front, sufficiently wide apart to receive loosely a double row of cartridges, and having its base approximately in line with the fore part of the firearm and its upper end rims segmentallycutoutconformably to theinternal curve of the breech, curved-over projections on the In testimony whereof I have hereunto set lateral rims, and mechanism for supporting my hand to this specification in the presence to and raising cartridges Within it. of two subscribing Witnesses.

2. In combination with a repeating firearm, the magazine 3, the rear recurved projections HARRIS 20, the front recurved projections 21, the seg- W'itnesses: mental apertures 22, and the sectional pro- LEONARD E. HAYNES, files G D, E F, and G H. I GEORGE ISAAC BRIDGES. 

